The majority of organizations take generational differences into account when engineering their employee onboarding programs– an expensive, enormously impactful undertaking– so they need to be successful.
What is not so obvious, however, is that when employers place their new hires into generational stereotypes, they’re actually harming their employee onboarding process. It’s time for employers to think beyond generational stereotypes. Here are four ways to transcend past this and deliver a killer employee onboarding experience:
1. Treat Every Employee As An Individual
Employers that adopt employee onboarding systems that are targeting an employee’s generation are casting too wide of a net. They’re missing the mark. Shoveling people into broad groups like this make it more difficult to get new hires up to speed. Every new employee should be approached like a unique human being.
2. Immerse New Hires Into the Culture
The best way organizations can get their employee onboarding in tune with their culture is to immerse new hires in the culture on day one. This point is a crucial point for management to engage with new hires and participate in the employee onboarding process. The goal is to create a culture of dialogue early on.
It’s imperative that new hires are seeing all sides and interacting with employees of all ages. Don’t abandon twentysomethings with younger employees. Employees need to intermingle with all ages to gain fresh perspectives on work.
This sends the message to new employees from day one that your organization celebrates diversity and provides them with an in-depth look at company culture.
3. Offer (and Provide) One-On-One Training
Every new hire deserves a personalized approach to employee onboarding– including team as well as intimate collaborations and check-ins. New hires can learn a ton in a team environment, but one-on-one time with key workers in their workflow is invaluable.
An idea is to partner new hires with tenured employees as training buddies. Having an intimate approach to employee onboarding allows new hires access to an array of perspectives and helps them build a rapport with other employees.
4. Make Time for Performance Reviews
No matter your new hire’s generation– all employees want more feedback. Make sure to schedule regular performance reviews into your organization’s employee onboarding process. Organizations should use these reviews to evaluate goals, role fit, and cultural fit of new hires. This helps them to measure quality of hire and further optimize their hiring processes.
This is also the perfect time to ask new hires for feedback on the employee onboarding process. This can open up further dialogue that can help the organization understand the quality of their onboarding experience.
Employee onboarding is an early temperature gauge of success of new hires. Organizations that adopt a one-size-fits-all strategy, this demonstrates to new hires that they aren’t seen as individuals, which is discouraging.